Seth Weintraub, on former hardware designers from Danger joining Google:

Within the last 12 months, Britt and Hershenson quietly joined
Google to run a new wing within Android called Android Hardware.
They tell me they spend their days building things that will turn
into reference designs for Android peripherals. Android Hardware
is exploring everything from home automation to exercise gaming
and robotics. While there are no immediate plans to build
Google-branded Android hardware accessories, Brit indicated that
he would love to see Google introduce some of its own Android
peripherals in the long term. The folks in Cupertino have to be
paying attention.

I’d think the “folks” at HTC, Motorola, and Samsung are the ones who better pay attention.